Elite Clay Buchholz delivers another encouraging spring performance

Not the Buchholz from the World Series, where every pitch of his Game Four start felt like walking a tightrope. The right-hander didn’t touch 90 mph that night.

No, on Friday, Buchholz looked more like the man who dominated the American League last April and May, whose arsenal — four-seam, two-seam, cutter, curve, change and split — can overwhelm a hitter. This is good news, indeed.

Just ask John Farrell.

“You never want to cap or project what the performance will be,” Farrell said when asked about expectations for Buchholz, “but we know darn well it’s going to be an elite type of performance. That’s not going out on a limb; that’s what he’s proven when he’s been on the mound.”

It’s hard to argue with Farrell’s choice of that oft-debated adjective, “elite.” Over the last four seasons, the only pitcher in the AL with a better ballpark adjusted-ERA in 550-plus innings is Justin Verlander.

In four scoreless innings against the Blue Jays Friday in Boston’s 3-1 win, Buchholz allowed just two hits — to the first two men he faced — and retired 11 in a row at one point. He walked no one, he struck out three, he threw 55 pitches.

The results weren’t as important as how he got them.

Perhaps the most significant number on the day for Buchholz was the one on the radar gun. He hit 92 on multiple occasions Friday, and he sat around 90 with his fastball for much of the day.

“I’d reach back, and it’s 92,” said Buchholz. “So I feel like if I was going to go out there and give 100 percent max effort, that’s where I would be every fastball.”

“He pitched very comfortably with very good stuff,” manager John Farrell said. “I’m not going to say I’m surprised [by the velocity], but it’s very encouraging. It shows you the arm strength is building. In the matter of five days, there’s been a sizable step forward in the action of all his pitches.”

Buchholz could stickle Friday over his continued difficulty locating his changeup, which he kept throwing in the dirt against the Blue Jays. But whatever; this is a guy who picked up a splitter on the fly two years ago when he couldn’t find his changeup. Being without one pitch means he still has five.

“As long as I keep throwing my fastballs on both sides of the plate, I think the changeup will come,” Buchholz said Friday, noting that it was a strong day for both the four- and two-seamer.

In some ways, Buchholz presents as confounding a dilemma to the Red Sox as he does to opposing hitters. How can Boston keep the slight right-hander healthy?

The plan this year has been to take it easy. In 2013, Buchholz walked into spring training ready to start his regular season after a rigorous offseason throwing program. That’s far from the case this year.

“With the addition of another month of pitching, we just felt the most obvious thing was to delay things to allow recovery to take place and build it up slower,” Farrell said before the game.

“I haven’t had any setbacks physically,” said Buchholz. “I feel like I could go about every day under a normal routine and a normal schedule. Given the past couple months of my season, they knew coming in I wasn’t exactly where I was in past years. We’re keeping an eye on it, but like I’ve told them, every day I come in I feel fine.”

Buchholz has now made three Grapefruit League starts this spring — more than anyone else in the Boston rotation. He’s allowed one run on five hits in eight innings. Yep, sounds like a line from early 2013.

While Buchholz is feeling good now, don’t expect the Red Sox to change the protocol. Buchholz is slated to be the team’s No. 5 starter in part to give him intermittent time off. Buchholz himself has talked about not pitching as deeply into games as he did at the start of last season, when he completed at least seven innings in nine of his first 10 starts of the year (before getting hurt).

“More than anything, he’s comfortable in his delivery. He’s staying back, he’s staying behind his arm well,” Farrell said. “He’s got more outings before we break camp here, so there will be ample time to do that. He’s very much moving in the right direction.”

Twitter: @TimBritton

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